IT solutions companies have been generating lots of buzz regarding thin clients basically since the early 1990s, but have yet to really penetrate into many suitable environments. These relatively cheap computer appliances carry broad promises like energy efficiency, space efficiency, and centralized maintenance and data storage. These claims could sound like the computer industry equivalent of snake oil. Kiwi-LTSP, a combination of KIWI imaging technology and Linux Terminal Server Project, is one open source solution for thin client servers.

Well, the hardware I deployed my setup on is a little underpowered. Pentium 2s, and a few 3s. The server is a pentium 4 with 256mb ram and a single ide hd. If all the clients reboot at the same time it can be brought to its knees, but other than that everything works fine.

We saved a good deal of money by reusing all this old hardware that was just laying around, and were then able to buy nice screens, keyboard, and mice for each box.